Jou (yoke) and Mallorcan ploughing

What is

• Plow: instrument to remove and turn the earth before sowing. One piece carries the rella (grid) and another, the spear to which the animal is hitched.
• Jou: yoke; It keeps the two animals of a parell that pull the plow or cart together and balanced.

How is

Jou mallorquí (DCVB):

• It is jou de camelles: two sticks (camelles) press on each side the coixí that protects the animal's neck, joined by a rope (juntera). It is the only type used in the Balearic Islands.
• Mallorcan feature: great curvature of the body of the yoke. It is required to do it in three pieces: the two caps de jou (extremes) and the llombrígol (center).
• Jou d'una bístia (Mall.): very curved piece in an inverted V, with two camels and handles, for a single animal.

Majorcan plowing (DCVB):

• Basic parts: rella (grid), dental (holds the fence), esteva (handle) with its handle, and the perxa/espigó where the animals pull.
• In Mallorca and Menorca, one of the three main parts is made of two added pieces.
• Arada amb braços (Manacor), arada de gàbia (Santa Margalida), arada de foc (Mancor): single-animal plows.
• Vinya llaurar plow (Mall.): with the arms deviated from the axis, to plow next to the vines without the animal rubbing them.
• Plowing (Manacor): with a wooden box, to open the garden ditches.
• In the iron plow, the trinxets are the two side blades that cut the grass (Manacor). See trinxet .

How is fa

• Wood: fuster (in Menorca, the specific job of arader). Iron grate: ferrer ( ferro forjat ).
• Coixí and collar: baster. See garnishes .

Com s'usa

Ways to carry the plow (DCVB, Mall.):

• flat plowing: very horizontal share, little entry.
• toe plow / carnissera: very nailed share.
• full plowing: plowing hard, the two edges remove new soil.
• fer camada: unequal furrows, one wide and one narrow.
• Season: autumn (sowing) and vine and almond tree work (please check calendar).

Vocabulary

• arada: plow.
• rella: reja.
• dental: piece that holds the fence.
• esteva: mancera.
• orelleres: ear flaps that open the furrow.
• jou: yoke.
• caps de jou / llombrígol: extremes / center of the Mallorcan jou.
• camelles: sticks that hold the coixí.
• juntera: rope that joins the camels.
• parell: pair of draft animals.
• «Passar l'arada davant els bous»: start the house from the roof (Mall., Men.).
• «Arada llarga i llaurador granat»: Mallorcan saying.

History

• 13th century: Llull: "the ferre in the aradre is more valuable than the aur in the box."
• 1395-1409: inventories mention "aradre ab sa rella".
• First quarter of the s. XX: Alcover and Moll collect the form and nomenclature of the yokes of the entire linguistic domain, "a temps" before they disappear.
• Replacement with the iron plow and the tractor: (dates in Mallorca, to be verified).
• The jou is still alive in architecture: the horizontal beams of Sínies and molins de vent are also called jou (Mall.).

On veure'n

• Museum of Mallorca, ethnological section (Wall) .
• Estates and estates .

Why is it design

• Resistance curve: the three-piece curved jou distributes the effort and is repaired in parts.
• Crop variants: vineyard plow, ditch plow, animal plow.
• Local wood tool + little iron: minimal metal where it is needed.

For the project

• Technical drawing of a Mallorcan jou (caps de jou + llombrígol) as a graphic piece.
• Question: what current agricultural design inherits the logic of the “llaurar vinya plow”?

Sources

• dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp?Word=jou
• dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp?Word=arada
• dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp?Word=collar
• dcvb.iec.cat/results.asp?Word=trinxet

Working text from the Disseny Indígena knowledge base, machine-translated from Spanish.

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